The Middle of Nonsense
by Lady Emily
Summary: In which Hermione and Harry go to Slughorn's Christmas party as friends, and Ron is actually sweet for once. One-shot fluff; HBP.


Disclaimer: I do not own _Harry Potter_ and am making no money from the writing of this story. Enjoy this short little one shot, and don't forget to review!

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"Well, I should go get ready for the Christmas party." Hermione announced, standing quickly from her position on the couch next to Harry.

Though he was no fan of formal parties, at the moment Ron was wishing that he had a similar excuse to get up from the large armchair he was sharing with his girlfriend and leave the common room... not to mention the clutches of said Lavender Brown. While he was more than fine with her wandering hands in private, it was a bit embarrassing when his friends were around, and getting her to behave in public was easier said than done, especially, it seemed, when Hermione was nearby. It was as though Lavender was trying to mark him as her property, and frankly, Ron was realizing that he wasn't particularly happy_ being_ her property.

"Ooh!" Lavender said, suddenly more attentive than she'd been during the group's entire conversation. "You're going to Slughorn's party, then? Who are you going with?" There was a slyness to her tone that hinted that she didn't believe that Hermione had managed to find a date.

Despite himself, Ron's attention also snapped to Hermione. She'd asked him to come to the party weeks ago, but that was before he'd begun dating Lavender, and now it was pretty much implied that he wouldn't be attending. He'd be lying if he said he'd never wondered—worried—that Hermione would ask someone else to fill his spot... or worse, that someone else would ask _her_ out.

"Oh," Hermione somehow managed to smile at Lavender without actually conveying a single bit of friendliness. "I'm going with Harry." She bestowed a different smile on Harry, full of warmth and affection, and he smiled back.

"What?" Forgetting that he was not _quite_ on speaking terms with Hermione at the moment, Ron blurted the question without meaning to, looking back and forth between his two best friends with a mixture of surprise and relief. Harry was going with Hermione? Well, that was all right. That wasn't exactly a _date_, was it? They were probably just going as friends—Harry had never shown any romantic interest in Hermione before, as far as Ron could see.

"_Harry._" Hermione repeated, with no further explanation, as though Ron had simply not heard her first answer.

For an unsettling moment, Ron wondered if, when Hermione had invited _him_, she'd meant it to be a date...

But wait- Harry was his best friend; why hadn't he told Ron that he'd be going to the party with Hermione? He looked again at his two best friends. Harry, his glasses reflecting the firelight, his head tilted back to see Hermione, who had just rested one hand on Harry's shoulder and was pushing her wavy hair behind her ear with the other.

Ron frowned. Did they always smile at each other like that? Jealousy flared up inside him without warning. Suddenly the casual touch of her hand on his shoulder seemed to mean... what, exactly, Ron didn't know. Something more than usual, definitely.

"Meet you here at ten of eight, right?" Hermione asked, bending slightly so that her face was closer to Harry's.

"You bet." Harry answered. Ron noticed that she squeezed his shoulder slightly, and suddenly the warm weight of Lavender in his lap seemed stifling.

"Great!" Hermione said brightly. "Have a good night, you guys." she said vaguely to Ron and Lavender, not really looking at either of them. Then she smiled at Harry again. "See you in a bit, Harry."

Then she leaned down and kissed Harry on the cheek.

"Hermione-" Harry said, in a tone that seemed slightly... disapproving? But she was already halfway up the stairs to the girls' dorm. His eyes flicked guiltily to Ron's.

Ron knew there must be a stormy look on his own face because Harry opened his mouth protestingly before looking at Lavender and clamping it shut again.

After a few moments, Lavender, evidently deciding that her claim was safe with Hermione gone, excused herself to join Parvati on the other side of the common room. Checking quickly to make sure no one else was in earshot, Ron used his newfound freedom to lean forward on his elbows and shoot a surly look at Harry, but before he could say a word Harry beat him to the punch. "Ron, there's nothing but friendship between me and Hermione."

Ron felt his face redden at how bluntly Harry had come to the point, but said accusingly, "Really? I mean, you can see why I'd be confused, can't you, what with you two going on dates and kissing goodbye and such?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "The kiss was all her, not me. I told her I wasn't going to go along with any of this nonsense. You two are my best friends and this is one thing I'm not getting in the middle of."

"What? The middle of...? What... _thing_?" Ron spluttered. "What _nonsense_?"

Harry was unimpressed by his display of baffled indignation. "Really, I'm sort of doing you a favor. She was all set to ask Cormac McLaggen to take her."

"_What?_" Ron said again; for some reason, _that _felt like a punch to the stomach. "_McLaggen? _But... but she can't fancy _him_, can she?"

Harry gave him an exasperated look. "'Course not, you _know_ she hates him." Ron relaxed, but Harry continued, rather uncomfortably, "And she knows you do too, so she thought her dating him might, er, get under your skin... And clearly it would've..."

Passing over that last part of Harry's sentence, Ron leaned back in the armchair a little smugly. "Hermione? Dating other blokes, just to try to annoy _me_?"

"I convinced her we'd have more fun if she went with someone she could actually stand." Harry finished, ignoring Ron's somewhat self-congratulatory attitude.

Ron shrugged. "Just saying. Would've expected a little more maturity from the school's resident genius, that's all..."

"Well..." Harry said slowly. "Can't really blame her, seeing as _you _said you'd be her date, and then ditched her for Lav-Lav over there."

They both looked over at Lavender, who waved enthusiastically and blew Ron a kiss. Ron sighed and turned back to Harry. "I didn't ditch her!" he protested. "It's not like it was supposed to be an official _date_, or anything..." Ears burning, he looked into the fireplace. "You... you don't reckon _she _thought it was... a real date, or anything. Do you?"

Harry gave Ron a look that very clearly said _yes, that's exactly what I think she thought_, but only said, in an even voice, "She might've done..." Ron scowled, but the expression didn't reach his eyes, which were thoughtful and troubled. Harry stood awkwardly. "I guess I should get ready as well."

"Right, right." Ron nodded, still staring into the flames as Harry walked around him and disappeared up the staircase.

Hermione had meant Slughorn's party to be a real date. If he hadn't messed everything up, she'd be up in her dormitory right now getting dressed up for _him._

He swallowed hard.

If she'd been trying to make him jealous by taking someone else to the party, that must mean she knew that he... had _feelings_ for her. But after all these weeks, after everything that had happened with Lavender... did _she_ still have feelings for _him_?

But she'd kissed Krum.

_So what?_ said a niggling little voice in his head. _So she kissed Krum. You kiss Lavender all the time... but it doesn't mean that you're happy with her._

He was lost in his thoughts for who-knows-how-long until a footfall on the stairs caused him to look up.

There, clad in an elegant scarlet party dress, was Hermione, looking as composed and beautiful as he'd seen her since the Yule Ball. She smiled shyly at him, the first time she'd smiled at him at all since Lavender, and Ron felt his breath catch in his throat. He cast a guilty glance around for his girlfriend, but she and Parvati appeared to have vacated the common room; they were completely alone.

Impulsively, he stood, feeling as though the spirit of long-dead chivalry had impelled him to. "Hermione... you look..." _beautiful... incredible... breaktaking..._

Taking a step forward, she looked up at him expectantly, even hopefully, but gazing into her eyes didn't make his search for the right word any easier. "Ron?"

"Just, wow." he finished lamely. "You look, really nice."

"Oh, well, thanks." Hermione said, pleased, her cheeks pinkening. "I... I guess I got done a little early, Harry's not ready yet-"

"He'll be down in a minute." Ron reassured her quickly. "But, before he does, I wanted to talk to you about something."

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "We've barely talked for weeks." she reminded him.

"I know." Ron said. "And I hate it."

"Me too." Hermione said softly. "I don't even know what you're mad at me for."

"I'm not." Ron confessed. How could he tell her that the real reason he'd been upset was that he'd just found out that she'd kissed Viktor Krum... two years ago? "I'm not mad at you for anything. I was acting like an idiot. You're the one who should be mad at me."

"Oh, I am." Hermione said, folding her arms over her chest. "I'm mad at you for being mad at me for no reason, and I'm mad at you for choosing-" she cut herself off abruptly, her face beginning to match her dress.

"Lavender. Right?" Ron finished gently.

"-To be an arse." Hermione said quickly, studying the carpet. "What you and Lavender do is none of my business. No matter how much you try to make it everyone's business by groping each other in public." she added darkly.

As bad as he was with girls and emotions, even Ron could tell that this conversation was about to start spiraling wildly in a bad direction. Swallowing hard, he reached for her hand but she snatched it away, pretending to adjust the thin, filmy wrap that was draped around her shoulders. "I never meant to choose her over you."

"I don't know what you're on about, Ronald." Hermione said coolly, still fiddling with the wrap.

"Harry told me that you wanted to go with Cormac McLaggen tonight." Ron said quietly.

"What?" At this, Hermione met his eyes again, enraged. "I'm going to kill him!" She actually drew her wand and pointed it at the staircase, where they could hear Harry's footsteps approaching.

Ron grabbed her wand hand and held it in his own. "He only told me to make me see what a jerk I've been. I'm sorry I ditched you, Hermione. I was childish and jealous and I messed everything up, and I apologize."

Hermione was so stunned at hearing an actual apology from Ron that she forgot to hex Harry as he appeared in the common room.

"Uh... ready to go then, Hermione?" Harry asked, reluctantly breaking the silence in the room.

"Yes." Hermione said softly.

"Just a minute." Ron said. With his back facing Harry, he leaned toward Hermione's ear. "More than anything, I wish I was taking you to the party tonight, Hermione." he murmured in a low tone. He squeezed her hand as he stepped back. "You look beautiful."

The way she was looking at him was indescribable. Ron knew that he'd _practically _just told her that he loved her... but if that was what it took to make her look at him that way, he felt that he could do it every day for the rest of his life.

Then he released her hand and headed for the dormitory stairs, hoping that the wand she still held wasn't about to be used on his retreating back. Mercifully, when she spoke it was a question and not a hex. "R-Ron? We'll talk tomorrow, then?"

Her voice was soft and oddly tentative, so much so that he stopped and turned around. "'Course." he said casually, with a half-smile, as if they hadn't been ignoring each other for weeks. "Yeah. Have fun tonight."

Hermione beamed back at him as she joined Harry by the portrait hole. "Thanks." she said, seeming as though she meant it. "We will."


End file.
